Appeal for an end to relentless persecution of FDU-Inkingi members: case of Anselme Mutuyimana.

The FDU-Inkingi political party opposed to the repressive regime of
President Paul Kagame would like to appeal to all peace-loving people
and governments as well as human rights organisations to put pressure on
the Rwandan government to end the persecution and torture of its
members. We would like to draw the attention of the public on the
continued psychological and physical torture of Anselme Mutuyimana held
in Nyanza prison.

We have raised the pathetic situation of Mr Anselme in our earlier press
releases but the situation has deteriorated after the FDU-Inkingi
leadership was arrested and detained on trumped charges. He is regularly
beaten and put in solitary confinement in a very squeezed prison cell.

According to the investigation, he is subjected to sleep deprivation
even though he has been sick and needed to be transferred to Butare
University hospital for specialised examination and treatment. He was
first forced to sleep in the corridors of the prison and this was later
denied to him. Nobody is allowed to talk to him or to lend him their
sleeping space for him to get some sleep. Five inmates who either who
talked to him or gave him some space to sleep were punished when found.
He is said to have been refused to attend church service, to engage in
prayer groups or other group activities. He has been refused visits
since August 26, 2017. He is said to be regularly beaten accused of
leaking to newspapers negative information about the prison conditions.
The person responsible for his ordeal is alleged to be Superintendent
John Mukono.

We would like to condemn in the strongest terms possible the physical
ill-treatment and psychological torture of our member Anselme Mutuyimana
which is a violation of national and international law. We call on the
Rwandan government to carry out investigations on these allegations and
give justice to Anselme Mutuyimana.